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Lacking A Defendant, Fraternity Alcohol-death Case Dissolves

October 27, 1998|By From Tribune News Services.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — The manslaughter case against a fraternity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the drinking death of a freshman effectively ended Monday because the frat has disbanded and there is no one to answer the charges.

Last month, prosecutors took the extraordinary step of bringing manslaughter charges against Phi Gamma Delta--the organization, not its members--in the case of 18-year-old Scott Krueger, who died after drinking himself into a coma at a party.

Because no individual members were named in the indictment, the case quickly unraveled when the fraternity disbanded.

On Monday, the Superior Court magistrate who had issued a warrant against Phi Gamma Delta filed it away in case the fraternity tries to reorganize at MIT.

Pamela Wechsler, assistant district attorney, conceded the case is over for now but said it wasn't all for naught: The charges drove the fraternity off campus and prompted MIT to change its alcohol and disciplinary policies.

While legal experts were baffled by the prosecution strategy not to name any individual defendant in the case, a spokesman for Suffolk District Atty. Ralph Martin's office said they pursued the case because it was "the right thing to do."

Brad Henry, a lawyer for Krueger's family, said, "The criminal justice system has failed," and he blamed the fraternity and the school for refusing to stand up in court.